Chapter 153

SASUKE

"Wouldn't this be a good opportunity to spar, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looks at him and Sasuke truly attempts to suppress from his face the urge to beat some sense into his blond teammate. For the past month, a ferocious Sasuke has thought of nothing but Itachi and the Dobe, which isn't right in any conceivable measure. For his complete betrayal, Itachi has earned Sasuke's murderous thoughts. The Dobe on the other hand, shouldn't even be a point of serious thought, but for how much of an idiot the blond is. Brash, loud, talentless…

'How!' Sasuke gravely asks himself. 'How did that idiot defeat a former Anbu? Where did that power come from?'

Even though Sasuke recalls Kakashi's explanation: 'mmn, what he did is a first-rate example of why you should never underestimate your opponent. You didn't expect it as much as every other person on that bridge, which meant not a single one of us could've guessed he had a trump card he could successfully land. That's how Naruto-kun won. It's why we always look underneath the underneath.'

Despite knowing the specifics of how the Dobe defeated the former Kiri Anbu, Zabuza, it doesn't explain away the embarrassment of his arrogance, as if it's okay for him—a nobody and an idiot—to act strong. The world will not tolerate it. 'I will not tolerate it!' For if the Dobe can be strong, then what does that say about himself? What does that say about his own chances of killing his treacherous brother, the clan-killer? Or returning the Uchiha name to its former glory? Sasuke simply doesn't have the time to waste putting his blond teammate in his place. He needs to concentrate all his energy on hating the only person who deserves it.

Currently, in Iruka-sensei's mildly forested backyard, Kakashi is observing a very down and depressed Naruto, and even Sasuke will admit it's unnatural to witness as their sensei says, "ma, maybe next time, Sasuke-kun. We all just reunited after all."

The Dobe was late to their meeting on the bridge near training ground 13; So late, in fact, Kakashi-sensei showed up first. After it seemed apparent the Dobe wasn't going to show, they all went to Iruka-sensei's house. Kakashi had to drag their blond teammate out of bed and that's where they all find themselves; in Iruka-sensei's wooded backyard with a listless Dobe in his pajamas and a Kiri traitor serving all but Sakura, tea.

"A month has passed," Sasuke returns, tightening his fist. "If you've already entered our team into the Chūnin Exams, we should reassess our skill level."

Kakashi looks him over before sighing and calling, "Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan, let's see how you've progressed." Naruto flinches but mournfully moves to the center of Iruka's grassy backyard while Sakura slowly removes her navy-blue utility rig around her thigh to keep their spar even.

'Even Sakura looks like she just crawled out of the grave,' Sasuke thinks as they begin their pathetic spar. 'What the hell is wrong with these two?' As Sasuke watches the worst taijutsu exchange he's ever seen in his young life, he actually questions if this is reality or a genjutsu illusion. He's seen that stupid cat they've chased on a few D-Rank missions move faster than this. 'Are they trying to fool me with this pathetic display?'

Kakashi stops the weak match when Naruto is knocked flat on his back and doesn't move to get back up. Sasuke can clearly see the blond isn't hurt but is stumped as to why he's not getting up. Sakura's punch didn't even look like it had any muscle behind it. Sasuke mentally yells, 'Is he fucking sky gazing?' before actually yelling, "what the fuck is going on?"

"Sasuke," Kakashi warns before he turns to the other two and asks, "what is going on here?" The Dobe looks to Sakura pained, heartbroken even. Something tells Sasuke she knows what this mystery is since she doesn't even return eye contact. 'Did someone die,' Sasuke wonders.

Kakashi sighs before suggesting, "maybe we shouldn't enter the Chūnin Exams."

"Tch," Sasuke angrily sucks his teeth while Sakura whirls around to her sensei and asserts, "no, sensei. It's fine. We can."

Kakashi simply shakes his head, addressing his genin students, "if we can't come together as a team, then there's no place for us in the exams. It's as simple as that."

Sasuke didn't think he could get angrier. His thought pattern mirrors his elevating frustration and aggressively questions, 'why can't they see they're holding me back? You're all in my way!'

Sakura moves to Naruto, who sat up, though still looks away, and pleads, "Naruto, come on, it's okay, right? Tell sensei, we're okay to participate."

Sakura's concern for Sasuke is clear as she looks from the Uchiha to Naruto, and again, he looks heartbroken. It wasn't until Sakura looks away saddened that he finally understood, and couldn't help the bubble of laughter that erupted from his belly. Drawing all their attention, Sasuke eventually says, "that's what this is about? A loser like you is dragging me down because your pathetic feelings got hurt? You should've known this is exactly how it was going to end! Love means you've lost, Dobe. It's a weakness, like cancer, and you should be grateful her rejection finally cut it out!"

It's the first time the blond idiot looked more alive; angry to be sure, but alive, as he idiotically states, "I don't regret loving Sakura. Even though it hurts worse than anything I've felt before, that doesn't mean I hate her or regret loving her."

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